Lynda Huxley saw one Swift flying over GMIT Mayo Campus in Castlebar yesterday evening and we have fresh nest material in boxes 9 and 7. Hope to get livestream up and running in next couple of days. Ricky Whelan of BirdWatchIreland has also had reports of Swift sightings in Banagher and Birr. These will be breeding birds so should be going to their nest sites. The ‘bangers’ i.e. potential new breeders should arrive in the next couple of weeks.

On Monday April 16th at 20:00 in the Hotel Newport, Newport, Lynda Huxley will be giving a talk as a part of the “Mayo Dark Skies”. Artificial light can be a problem for migrating birds and at their nest sites. Lynda will be sharing information about this amazing bird and how we can all help them.

Come and see the new Swift Videos page on our site, Lynda Huxley speaks about saving our swifts and there is a video of swifts in their nest box exercising their wings too! CLICK HERE to see the videos.

Well done to Seoirse Swanton, representing Sancta Maria College Louisburg, who is presenting his research on GMIT Mayo swifts at the BT Young Scientist exhibition. Swift Conservation Ireland Green-Campus.

Message from Mark Smyth of SaveourSwifts “Here’s a date for your diary. On 24th January Claire Barnett is giving a talk on GPS tracking of swifts to the Northern Ireland Ornithologists Club meeting in the Ulster Museum at 7.30pm

Very excited that Seoirse Swanton from Sancta Maria in Louisburgh, Co. Mayo has been selected to present our Swift Research Project at BT Young Scientist of the Year in January 2018 at the RDS in Dublin. Seoirse has played a very big role in this research project, couldn’t have achieved so much without him, and we are getting some very interesting results.